I'm a Flamenco Dance Instructor

My assignment Friday: Learn how to dance flamenco and then teach it.

Friday was full of something I love: dancing. Next week, the kids have major presentations on various countries. Each grade level has a different country. The whole week practically has been dedicated to learning about various cultural aspects of these countries, and dance is a very important cultural aspect!

One of the countries represented is Scotland. Francesca, the volunteer from England lives near the Scotland border and knows how to highland dance. So she taught the kids a dance they will perform next week. I learned it too, just for fun.

A while later, I was supervising a different grade level, and they wanted to learn the dance as well. I taught them what I had just learned. They wanted to learn more dances, so I taught them what I know best: Country Western style. Who doesn’t love a good pretzel spin? They adored it, and pretty soon, I had a line of kids waiting to be twirled. Before I knew it, the desks were pushed aside to make room for the dancing. I taught them some western stuff, and they taught me some more Guatemalan cultural dances as well. I honestly wasn’t sure what they were supposed to be doing during that time. There was no other teacher around, and the dancing was holding their attention, so I figured it couldn’t hurt.

Then a teacher walked in the room. She headed for me and looked like she had a mission. I was fully prepared to apologize for turning the class into a ballroom. She asked what I was doing. Before I could answer, the kids excitedly told her I was teaching them a dance from my country. She asked if I knew a lot of dances. I said yes. She asked if I knew flamenco. I said no.

Long story short, there were two kids in the class representing Spain who needed to perform a flamenco dance next week, and she didn’t know how to teach them. She asked me to do it. Um, I would LOVE to! We went to a school computer where she showed me a YouTube video of flamenco and introduced me to the guy and girl she wanted me to teach. OK then. Here we go.

I watched the very complicated YouTube dance several times, looking for easy, flashy moves, and then choreographed a partner flamenco dance to some music they had picked out. It was complete with flashy arms, a lift, and a dip.

It was tricky to teach a dance in Spanish. My salsa lessons came in handy because I’ve learned some Spanish dance lingo. I admit that a couple times, I sensed I had lost their attention and then realized I was accidently counting in English. Still, I was happy with the amount that I could explain and instruct in Spanish. My pupils were good sports and did well. They said they liked the dance. I just hope they don’t forget it over the weekend!